South Korea loses rocket and climate change satellite

by Stevie Smith - Jun 10 2010, 10:15

After successfully tackling safety concerns that delayed the scheduled launch of its new climate change research satellite, South Korea’s luck has gone from bad to worse after mission controllers lost contact with the host rocket shortly after it blasted clear of its pad.

According to the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute, communications with the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (or Naro-1) were abruptly severed approximately eight minutes into the mission - at a distance of around 70 kilometers.

Without detailing exactly how it planned to salvage the mission and transfer the global warming and climate change research equipment into orbit, the Korean space agency said only that it “will seek ways to find the satellite.”

That may prove somewhat difficult however, not least because the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the rocket exploded and local TV broadcasters covering the event captured its fiery descent towards the East China Sea.

The problematic launch marks the second time in less than a year that Korea has attempted to transport a satellite into orbit – initially failing in August of 2009 when a portion of the rocket’s housing refused to open and release the payload after lift-off.

Wednesday’s scheduled launch was delayed by 24 hours in order to allow staff at the Naro Space Center in Goheung to attend to malfunctioning fire-fighting equipment situated close to the rocket’s assigned launch pad.

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